As the mesocyclone approached Dimmitt, teams quickly converged on their correct storm-relative positions around Dimmitt. The mobile Doppler briefly scanned the near-ground mesocyclone region south of Dimmitt. A tornado developed quickly on the south side of Dimmitt, moving cyclonically about the mesocyclone to just east of Dimmitt, and then curved back towards the northeast. Mobile mesonet data were obtained in all quadrants of this tornado within 3 kilometers. Video was obtained from several sites. The mobile Doppler obtained tremendous data as the tornado moved in an arc around the Doppler position on the 3-kilometer range ring. The tornado debris cloud itself appears in the reflectivity data (below right). When the tornado crossed TX 86, it removed the pavement in a 10 meter wide swath over a length of approximately 100 meters. The asphalt was thrown over 200 meters into the adjacent field. Power poles were snapped at the ground. Vehicles were totally destroyed, with reports of two truck trailers missing entirely. Dimmitt Damage Track NCAR Electra Flight Track As the Dimmitt tornado was in progress, another, less significant tornado was occurring about 10 miles north of Dimmitt, associated with the mesocyclone that formed southeast of Friona. The research aircraft were forced to fly on the west sides of these storms because of the wide-spread intense convection. The aircraft collected a large number of pseudo-Doppler volume scans that were at somewhat greater ranges than normal. VORTEX obtained a rich data set on one significant tornado event, the Dimmitt tornado, and a good data set at Friona, although that event was sampled somewhat less thoroughly than the Dimmitt tornado. Chapter 4 6